Shot Through the Heart

Replace the following lyrics in italics with the words in parenthesis...

Shot throught the heart (window)...

And your (Reid's) to blame...

Darlin' you give love a bad name (are in really big trouble)...


This is what happens to your shed window when your son gets a bb gun...

Reid's defense..."Well, I was aiming at Kendall, and she moved, so I accidently shot the window and I didn't know the gun was loaded, and...blah, blah, blah."

Yeah, Reid, just give Daddy the gun, you won't be using it for quite some time...So, I think I will refer this one back to Jon Bon Jovi and today's song lyrics..."An angel's smile is what you sell, you promise me heaven and put me through hell."

It's a good thing that he is cute...

Mel

Money Honey

This was an actual conversation with K on Monday afternoon. It happened when I picked K up from school. She jumps in the car with a beautiful smile on her face and says:

K: Momma, look at this cool new book that I got at the book fair today. I wanted a second book, but I did not have enough money. I only had $12.

M: Where did you get $12?

K: From you...you gave me a check for $12 this morning so I used it at the book fair.

M: Aaah, Kendall, that was your lunch money for the week.

K: It was? Whoops! Sorry about that. I told you I needed money for the book fair and you handed me this check so I thought it was for the book fair.

M: Well, if you spent your lunch check at the book fair, how did you eat lunch?

K: I had $2.40 in my account, that was plenty for today. (Insert long pondering pause while staring out truck window.) Um, momma, can I have a new lunch check for tomorrow?

So sweet K went to school with a new lunch check on Tuesday cause like the song says Money Honey, can't give more than you get now.

Mel

Affair of the Heart

Anyone who knows me, knows that I've had an Affair of the Heart with Rick Springfield since I was 10 years old. On many occassions while growing up, I informed Bebe & Pop that as soon as I turned 18, I was moving to Austrailia, marrying RS, and they would never see me again! I had every photo from teen and tiger beat, posters, and album covers hanging on my walls. I know and love every song, every track, every word. I endured Luke and Laura's love affair on General Hospital, just so that I could watch RS play Dr. Noah Drake. Who cared if Luke and Laura worked? Not me!

Two years ago, Ryan took me to see RS in concert at the Wild Horse. It was amazing. As RS walked through the crowd (on top of the tables), he started heading our direction. RS stepped on the "fencing" that was in between the tables in front of us and our table. It was not secured to the floor. The amazing Ryan stepped up, grabbed RS's arm, and stabilized him as he got his footing on our table. I could not believe it! RS standing on my table, just in front of me, singing to me!!! My hubby is holding him up so that RS can sing directly to me! I pulled out my concert shirt from 1983 and RS sees it, grins, thumbs up my shirt, wipes his sweat with it, and continues to sing. He knows! RS knows that I love him!!! And with that incident, I thought that would be the closest to my destiny that I would ever come. Until last night...Friday night...October 22, 2010 at 7:49 p.m.

A few pics from the Wildhorse...here he is...one table over...


Of course, I was so busy soaking in the love (aka sweat) and holding on to my tee and RS's legs, I don't have a great close up pic but here's a pic of him moving to the next table to sing...:-)


A little over a week ago, I purchased RS's new biography, Late, Late at Night. And I have to admit that I was afraid to read it. I really did not want my image of my childhood love shattered. But my curiousity overcame my fear and I dove into the book at 4 pm on Friday afternoon. I finished the book at 1:15 am Saturday morning. I knew a lot of the story. I knew where he grew up, that he played music as a kid, that he'd toured in Vietnam. Wouldn't it have been totally cool if RS had played a concert for my dad in Vietnam? Back to the story, I cringed when I read the stories of RS being a play-yah. So dissappointed to learn that RS had not saved himself for me! I loved the stories of how some of my favorite songs came to life. And then I learned from RS's website that he was doing a book signing on Friday, October 22nd at Davis Kidd in Nashville. I'm so there!

Bebe and I showed up at 4 pm. I walk up to the counter and say "Where do I need to get in line for the RS book signing?" The 12 year old boy at the counter says "You want to get in line, now?" My reply "Well, of course, I do...It's Rick Springfield!" Unfortunately, I find out that I can not get in line yet, and that I have to purchase a book to get a ticket to get in line. That decision took about .0000005th of a second. Yes, sell me a book (that I already own and have with me) and give me a ticket. Awesome! We are in group 4. No need to line up now so Bebe and I decide to window shop in Green Hills mall. It was so nice. No kids saying "Hey I want this!" Just casually strolling, just looking, not needing to find the "it" thing that I'm looking for, just looking, dreaming and lauging with my mom!

At 6:15, we head back over to Davis Kidd to get in line. I am a nervous wreck! Is this really going to happen? Will I really get to meet, talk to, hug, and smell Rick Springfield? Too much!!! I mean I've already met Jeff Gordon this year. If I meet RS too, I really can just go ahead, die and go to heaven!!!

The Davis Kidd staff lined everyone up by groups. He arrived promptly at 7 pm. While in line, we had a blast talking to all the other RS fans. The fans that really appreciate him the way I do. He's laughing, smiling, posing for pictures, signing books. He looks happy and relaxed. He's interacting with the crowd. At one point, he says he feels like Santa Claus at the mall with a line full of kids. And then, it was our turn in line.

Now this all happened in a span of about 30 seconds...We walk up. The person in front of me, unfortunately, her camera freezes. She moves off to fix it. Seizing the opportunity, I step up next to him and say "So, since her camera is frozen, I get extra time with you?" He grins, oh that precious grin, chuckles a little, and says "Yeah, absolutely." I tell him that it is so incredible to meet him, he says good to meet you too, we chat (really don't know what I said, hopefully it made sense) and he takes my book, signs it, and he hugs me for our pic. I forget that there are hundreds of people around us. For that moment in time, it was just me and Rick Springfield. After our moment, Bebe steps up. She sticks her hand out to RS and says, "I'm here with her, my name is Barbara." He says, "Barbara, that's a good name, that's my wife's name." Bebe and I both reply "I know." We all smile and laugh and move through the line. My moment is over. My knees buckle, I can't breathe, tears well in my eyes. I check my camera for "the pic" and well, can I just say, it's awesome!!! Insert drum roll from Human Touch here....

And here it is cropped, so that you can see how beautiful he is...

RS was loving, generous, and kind. He talked softly in his deep voice. He, of course, looked amzing and he smelled so good! 5th grade dreams do come true!

Heart in my mouth; pulse in my head,
Mercury rising into the red,
The smell of your skin can light up all the fires in me.

Hungry to touch; I'm eager to please,
Out of control and I hand you the keys,
Every night I am burning to make love to you.

But don't try to tell me it's all physical,
It goes much deeper than that,

It's an Affair of the Heart.

I heart you Rick Springfield!!!

Melissa

Bring Me Some Water - B Side

Literally, the B side!!! I was on the phone when I picked up K from school today. I was talking Bebe so the conversation lasted for the trip home. The rule at the W family home is that if momma or daddy is on the phone, you do not interrupt unless you are bleeding, or something is on fire. We get home, we are unloading the car, and I'm still on the phone. (In my defense, I haven't talked to Bebe this week.) Finally, K couldn't stand it anymore. Grinning from ear to ear, and kind of hopping in place, "Momma, I've got to tell you some amazing news!" I paused my conversation long enough to give her the momma look and she says really, really, really, quickly so that she could get it out before I said I'm on the phone, "You are looking at the CCMS basketball water girl, I'll tell you my story when you are off the phone!" and she skipped down the hallway to her room.

When I got off the phone, I called K into the kitchen and said tell me your story. It went something like this.

M: So you are the new water girl for the boys basketball team?

K: And the girls team.

M: How did this happen?

K: (This story was told in total of 4 seconds.) Well, while I was waiting on you to pick me up and Coach R came by and asked me what I was doing after school now that football season was over. So I told him, I go home, do my homework and then just hang out. So he says, "I hear that Coach M is looking for water girls for the basketball team. Do you want to go talk to him?" Sure. So we walked down to Coach M's room, he asked me if I would be the water girl for b-ball and I said yes. And I'm the first one they asked, but I'm sure there will be others. And guess who's on the boys team? Robert. (Insert hands clasping and laying over her heart, jumping up and down and a big, big cheesy grin on her face here.)

M: That's awesome, sister! So happy for you! (While in my head I'm thinking, aaaawesome, aren't there like a ka-jillion basketball games in a season, I can't eat another concession stand hot dog, how much is gonna cost for us to get in each game.)

I'm not a basketball fan. But I'm sure I will become one!!! Go Cavs!!!

Melissa

Bring Me Some Water

Kendall is a girly girl. She loves music. She loves Jesus and she loves to be safe. She enjoys and thrives on following and enforcing the rules. She loves words of affirmation. She is a listening to her ip*d, acting/drama queen, all things vampire (She's a Team Edward all the way!), TV/movie watching, making her outfits "pop", talking/texting on her phone, still playing with Barbies (just don't tell her friends), hanging out in her room kind of girl. So we were a little surprised when she came home from school on one of her first days there and informed us that she would like to be a Team Manager for her new school's football team.

Let me back up a minute and fill you in on a couple of details. Ryan and I were very concerned that this move would be hardest on Kendall because of her age, being a girl, and always wanting/needing to be in her safe and comfortable world. She never wanted to move. She worried about not fitting in at a new place. She did not want to leave the church and children's ministry that she'd been a part of ever since she could remember. Even when we had discussed moving around the block when we still lived in TS. She wouldn't even hear of it!

So, when she came home after a couple of days in her new school and wanted to join the football team, we were elated. This was a direct answer to prayer! We discussed it as a family, the who's, what's, when's and where's, and decided that this would be a great thing for Kendall, and so we told her to go for it!

Meet Kendall - Crockett County Middle School Football Team Manager.

You might be asking, what is a team manager? Well in the old days, we called them water girls, but now they are called Team Managers.

Being a Team Manager requires commitment. Kendall had to stay after school every day with the football team for football practice, attend all of the games and provide high quality H2O for her teammates . In the blazing 100+ degree heat of August and September, this was not a fun job. But, she loved it!!! She has made friends of the guys on the football team, the other team managers, with the coaches and the cheerleaders. Every time I go to pick her up, she has a smile on her face that reaches from ear to ear. She would get in the car and talk about special teams, offense and defense, running sprints, bear crawls, and a certain player with the number 10 (His name is Robert and he is officially her first crush - and she will be mortified that I put that on the blog for the whole world to read - remember I called her a drama queen). She often did the work outs with her teammates even though that wasn't a requirement. And she received praise from the coaches for being able to hang with the boys on their workouts and on occassion, she was even able to out work them!

Kendall and her co-managers.

Kendall and her sweet friend Molly. They've quickly become BFF's. They are so much alike. And we are so thankful for Molly and her sweet family!!!

Carrying the water bottles.

Watching the game from the sideline...which I have been informed that this is her new favorite place to watch a football game!!!

Action shot...headed to the locker room for halftime. By the way, the girls have to wait OUTSIDE the locker room!!

Celebrating with her team after their Cotton Bowl win. K is on the far left of the group.

It is a good thing that Ryan and I like football. We attended every game, near and far. We cheered when our girl heard the time out buzzer and picked up her water bottles and headed out to the huddle on the field. We cheered when our team made a great play or scored a touch down. We ate a lot of nachos and hot dogs. We praised God that our sweet K found something she loved and that the move has been a "not so bad" thing for her. (Those are her words.) Goodbye Fall 2010 Football Season! We hear that we will be seeing you again next fall, and we can't forget about spring practice!!!

P.S. And watch out Ole Miss Rebels, after her first game as a team manager, K got in the car and said..."And that's what I want to do on the field at Ole Miss!" Maybe sports training is in her future!!!

Mel

Rock You Like A Hurricane

Labor Day weekend was spent going on our annual Redneck RV Relaxing Racing Romance trip to Atlanta with our BFF's the Stahly's & the Vantrease's. This year we "pimped" our RV rental. It was somewhat larger than last years RV and instead of saying "Rent Me" across the sides and back, it just looked like a normal RV. It was a "Hurricane" model...thus the title for the post.

The rest of this blog will only be funny for the W's, S's & V's that were on the trip but feel free to read through the highlights of the weekend...and I know once you read these you are gonna wish you had been there!!!!

This first quote will be altered to protect the innocentness of the one who spoke it and the one who took it way out of context. I will only mention that it involved McD's, Dairy Queen, chocolate dipped cones, forcing air out of your mouth, and the transformation of the chocolate sauce.

You smell like the way you smelled when I fell in love with you.

The brochure said it sleeps 6. Well the brochure failed to mention that that meant it sleeps 2 adults and 4 midgets.

And AV, this was not a part of the weekend but when I picked out this song for the post, I had no idea that these were the first four lines of the lyrics...

It’s early morning
The sun comes out
Last night was shaking
And pretty loud

Saturday night was pretty loud...WOOH!!!! WOOH!!!! ***Note, we are thinking that maybe we need to move from the party all night campground to the family campground. Does this make us old and fuddy duddies?

Oh no, something's on fire in there...that's the pilot light...that's what you are trying to catch on fire.

What's this floating in the eggs?

It makes them fluffier...like sour cream in eggs and oj in pancakes.

It hurts to be this good.

When I was in school, you could survive an atomic bomb as long as you were under your desk.

Keep your hands off my woman, and your thoughts off my man.

I'm so glad that the race did not go green, and the 24 drop back in the field...all I could think of was "We are going to hear M say all night...2 words, Steve Letarte!!!"

Funny race chatter -

Jeff Dickerson to Jeff Gordon - "You're probably clear...clear."

Jeff Gordon to Jeff Dickerson - "What exactly is probably clear, mostly clear, almost clear...?"

Did you flatspot the tires? No. Was that a no? No-sir. Negative. Not. The tires do not have flatspots.

How is the 29 the leader? He caused the caution? What position are we in? We don't know. Waiting on NASCAR. How can we not know what position we are in...How is 29 first?

Here are some RV tips for those of you planning a trip...

1. Cut onions outside the RV.

2. Put heavy metal electric skillets in the bottom cabinets for travel, otherwise, G will whip the RV into the Kroger parking lot and just about take of J's head with the flying electric skillet.

3. Coffee makers do not and will not ride on the countertops while RV is in motion.

Another fantabulous weekend was spent. Racing was awesome. Relaxing was at a premium. Tailgating was super yummy - not everyone has steak, baked potatoes, salad, and all the other fixings on their tailgating tables...but we did! Romance was in the air - we love each other, our drivers, and racing! And all of these things put together, apparently makes us rednecks.

So here's to rocking the weekend in a hurricane...and can't wait 'til we get to do it again next year!!!!

Melissa

It Takes Two

It takes 2 wheels, a motor, a helmet, and 2 gloves to put a tremendous smile on this boy's face! Here's Reid's new toy...

We thought that it was time to move Reid up to a dirt bike now that we live in the country. He needs to learn dirt bike skillz because how else is he going to get to his job at the feed mill or take his date to the senior prom but on a dirt bike!!! (And for those of you who did not catch those examples, it was a Footloose reference.)

Here he is practicing "starting" the bike...(And yes, you do hear me say "wheelie" at the end of the video...I promise I was just joking!!!)

And here he is taking a few practice laps around the back yard. He is limited to the back yard until Ryan feels like he is ready for a dirt road. Reid says that he is ready...after about 2 backyard laps.



So right about now, i'm about to be possessed with the sounds of MC Reid Base and DJ Daddy Rock and the whirl of the dirt bike motor in the back yard...Hit It!!!

Wait, on second thought...don't Hit It!!! Please be careful!!!

Mel